This investigation addressed family member perceptions of preparation for withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in the intensive care unit. These families are at a high risk for psychosocial and physical sequelae. The quantitative results of this mixed methods study are reported. A control group received usual care and an educational booklet component of the intervention. The experimental group received the above plus exposure to comfort cart items and additional psychological support. Twenty-eight family members enrolled over a 13-month period. Sixty-one percent (10 intervention, 7 control) completed the follow-up. Fourteen family members (82%) recalled the booklet. Some family members reported moderate to severe depression (12.5%), anxiety (12.5%), and stress (12.6%). Satisfaction with care (83.7%-85.2%) and family member well-being (44.1) were within the norm. Short Form-36 physical component score was higher than the norm, and the mental component score was lower than the norm. This study demonstrated feasibility and acceptability of the interventions and follow-up questionnaires when families make the difficult decision to withdraw treatment. Strategies are suggested to strengthen statistical power.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To understand hospice palliative care nurses' (HPCNs) perceptions toward spiritual care and their competence to provide spiritual care.
BACKGROUND: Previous research has shown that many nurses lack a clear understanding of the concept of spirituality and feel inadequately prepared to assess patients' spiritual needs. Studies on competence in spiritual care are mostly descriptive, and the evidence for improving it is limited.
DESIGN: A mixed methods research design was used.
METHODS: Quantitative data were collected from 282 nurses in forty Hospice Palliative Care (HPC) institutions in South Korea and analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni test, and multiple regression. Qualitative data collection involved two stages: first, an open-ended question posed to 282 nurses, and second, focus group interviews conducted with six HPC experts. Both qualitative datasets were analyzed separately using content analysis. This study followed the GRAMMS guidelines.
RESULTS: Of the six dimensions of spiritual care competence (SCC), the mean scores were highest in "attitude toward the patient's spirituality" and "communication," whereas the "assessment and implementation of spiritual care" and "professionalization and improving the quality of spiritual care" had the lowest mean scores. Through content analysis, 4 themes regarding the meaning of spiritual care, 3 themes regarding requirements for spiritual care, and 2 themes regarding preparedness for spiritual care were revealed. They perceived the needs of the understanding of spiritual care based on the attributes of spirituality, the education in systematic assessments and implementation for spiritual care with standardized terminology, and the opportunity to reflect on nurses' own spirituality.
CONCLUSIONS: Practical SCC training for HPCNs and the subsequent development of clinical practice guidelines are of vital importance.
RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The results of this study provide a useful resource to develop educational programs for strengthening the SCC of nurses and the entire HPC team.
The high mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) requires health workers to be able to provide palliative care so that patients die in peace and help the patient's family face the grieving process. The implementation of palliative care must be organized and assessed for the quality of its implementation. The aim was to describe the quality of palliative care in ICU "X" Hospital. The research used Mixed Methods. The first was the quantitative with descriptive research. The sample was 38 nurses and 4 doctors to obtain data on the quality of palliative care with The Self-Report Questionnaire (0-10). The second of qualitative methods to deepen quantitative data with achieved data saturation in 5 nurses and 2 doctors. Retrieval of data from May to July 2019. The results were the quality of palliative care performed by nurses had a score of 6.68, for doctors were 5.19. The lowest score (5.29) was found in the emotional support, and organizational domain for ICU clinicians for nurses with the theme of the role of coworkers and the desire to act alone, for doctors the lowest score (3.93) was spiritual support for patients family with the theme of the absence of operational standards of spiritual support procedures and knowledge and experience of spiritual support. The conclusion is the quality of palliative care services performed by nurses has a score of 6.68 and for doctors was 5.19.
Purpose: While the 0–10 pain scale is often used to assess treatment response, it may not accurately reflect change in pain over time. The purpose of this study is to correlate pain improvement using the 0–10 pain scale to patients’ perceived improvement in pain following palliative radiation therapy (RT), and to qualitatively characterize themes of pain assessment.
Methods: Patients age = 20 receiving RT for spinal metastases were enrolled. Patients rated their pain (0–10) at the treatment site at RT start, and 1 and 4 weeks post-RT completion. At 1 and 4 weeks post-RT, patients reported their perceived percent improvement in pain (pPIP) (0–100%), which was compared to calculated percent improvement in pain (cPIP) based on the 0–10 pain scores. At 4 weeks post-RT, 20 randomly selected patients participated in a qualitative pain assessment.
Results: Sixty-four patients treated at 1–2 sites were analyzed. At 1 week post-RT completion, 53.7% (36/67) reported pPIP within 10 percentage points of cPIP, 32.8% (22/67) reported pPIP > 10 percentage points higher than cPIP, and 13.4% (9/67) reported pPIP > 10 percentage points lower than cPIP. Similar degrees of discordance were seen at 4 weeks post-RT. Qualitative analysis revealed five themes: pain quality (n = 19), activities (n = 9), function (n = 7), medication use (n = 2), and radiation side effects (n = 1).
Conclusions: About half of patients reported a pPIP substantially disparate from their cPIP, and the change in pain measured by the 0–10 scale tended to underestimate the degree of perceived pain improvement. Multiple themes were identified in qualitative analysis of pain response.
In the Netherlands during the past decade, a growing number of people with dementia (PWDs) requested euthanasia, and each year more of such requests were granted. We aimed to get quantitative insights in problems and needs general practitioners (GPs) have when confronted with a euthanasia request by a person with dementia (PWD). A concept survey was composed. Expert validity of the survey was achieved through pilot testing A postal survey was sent to a random sample of 900 Dutch GPs, regardless their opinion on or practical experience with euthanasia. Collected data were analysed with descriptive statistics. Of 894 GPs, 423 (47.3%) completed the survey, of whom 176 (41.6%) had experience with euthanasia requests from PWDs. Emotional burden was reported most frequently (86; 52.8%), as well as feeling uncertain about the mental competence of the PWD (77; 47.2%), pressure by relatives (70; 42.9%) or the PWD (56; 34.4%), and uncertainty about handling advance euthanasia directives (AEDs) (43; 26.4%). GPs would appreciate more support by a SCEN physician (an independent physician for support, information and formal consultation around euthanasia). (291; 68.8%), a geriatric consultation team (185; 43.7%), the end-of-life clinic (184; 43.5%), or a palliative care consultation team (179; 42.3%). Surprisingly the need for moral deliberation was hardly mentioned. The reported burden and the rise in numbers and complexity of euthanasia requests from PWDs warrants primary care support by easier access to colleagues with expertise and training on end of life care needs of patients with dementia and their caregivers.
Introduction : Il n’existe que peu de données dans la littérature actuelle sur la manière dont les médecins généralistes vivent le décès de leurs patients. Les principales études sur le sujet sont des travaux qualitatifs. Il manque de travaux quantitatifs pour en dresser un état des lieux exhaustif. L’objectif de cette étude est d’analyser les décès des patients vécus comme difficiles par leur médecin généraliste.
Matériel et méthode : Il s’agissait d’une étude épidémiologique descriptive quantitative transversale. La population étudiée était celle de l’ensemble des médecins généralistes libéraux de la région Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Le critère de jugement principal était le pourcentage de médecins généralistes vivant difficilement le décès de leurs patients.
Résultats : Dans cette étude, 76 % des médecins généralistes vivaient comme difficile le décès de leurs patients. Ils étaient 29 % à ressentir le besoin d’être aidés dans cette situation. Le retentissement professionnel et personnel était présent chez respectivement 37 % et 31 % des médecins. La consommation de médicaments survenait dans 4,8 % de ces situations, celle d’alcool dans 4 % des cas. Les structures d’aides aux généralistes étaient insuffisantes pour 57 % d’entre eux.
Discussion et perspectives : Cette étude a mis en évidence que les médecins généralistes sont très affectés par les décès de leurs patients. Le retentissement émotionnel est intense et pourrait influer sur les soins apportés aux patients. Ces situations sont source de difficultés au cours de l’exercice professionnel comme dans la vie personnelle. Les structures d’aide existantes sont très insuffisantes et méconnues.
Conclusion : Cette étude a permis de dresser un état des lieux de la souffrance des médecins généralistes lors du décès de leurs patients. Il est nécessaire de mieux accompagner les médecins dans cette situation.
Background: Decisions to limit treatment (DLTs) are important to protect patients from overtreatment but constitute one of the most ethically challenging situations in oncology practice. In the Ethics Policy for Advance Care Planning and Limiting Treatment study (EPAL), we examined how often DLT preceded a patient’s death and how early they were determined before (T1) and after (T2) the implementation of an intrainstitutional ethics policy on DLT.
Methods: This prospective quantitative study recruited 1.134 patients with haematological/oncological neoplasia in a period of 2×6 months at the University Hospital of Munich, Germany. Information on admissions, discharges, diagnosis, age, DLT, date and place of death, and time span between the initial determination of a DLT and the death of a patient was recorded using a standardised form.
Results: Overall, for 21% (n=236) of the 1.134 patients, a DLT was made. After implementation of the policy, the proportion decreased (26% T1/16% T2). However, the decisions were more comprehensive, including more often the combination of ‘Do not resuscitate’ and ‘no intense care unit’ (44% T1/64% T2). The median time between the determination of a DLT and the patient’s death was similarly short with 6 days at a regular ward (each T1/T2) and 10.5/9 (T1/T2) days at a palliative care unit. For patients with solid tumours, the DLTs were made earlier at both regular and palliative care units than for the deceased with haematological neoplasia.
Conclusion: Our results show that an ethics policy on DLT could sensitise for treatment limitations in terms of frequency and extension but had no significant impact on timing of DLT. Since patients with haematological malignancies tend to undergo intensive therapy more often during their last days than patients with solid tumours, special attention needs to be paid to this group. To support timely discussions, we recommend the concept of advance care planning.
Background: Ineffective medical treatment could be avoided if patients had completed advance directives documents in advance.
Aims: This study aimed to explore the predictors for the intentions of signing advance directives among dialysis patients.
Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 209 dialysis patients by using structured questionnaires. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Version 17) (SPSS/IBM Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used for data analysis.
Results: The predictors for the intentions for signing the advance directives were participants who had attended the hospice care course and those knowledgeable on " advance care plans." The participants who had previously attended the palliative care course were 3.708 times more likely to sign the advance directive document than those who had not received a previous palliative care course (p=0.005; Exp (B)=3.708). There were 2.401 times more participants who knew the advance directives than those who did not (p=.025; Exp (B)=2.401). Participants knowing of the Advance directive were 0.23 times more willing to sign the advance directive document.
Conclusions: Health care workers may strengthen the patient's knowledge of an "advance care plan" by health education during the dialysis treatment and provide information on websites for the patients.
Impact statement: Hospital managers should train their staff to provide health teachings for an advance care plan.
AIMS: Develop and psychometrically assess the Palliative Nursing Care Quality Scale (PNCQS, escala de Calidad del Cuidado Enfermero Paliativo, CCEP, in Spanish). An interview-based qualitative study (1) was conducted to verify construct validity evidence, with psychometric properties of reliability and validity verified by two quantitative studies (2 & 3).
DESIGN: Quantitative instrumental, correlational, and cross-sectional study.
METHODS: Study 1 was carried out with 10 key informants. For Study 2, a sample of 103 nursing professionals was obtained and 176 nurses from palliative care resources in Spain participated in Study 3. Data were collected between May 2017 - May 2018.
RESULTS: Evidence of adequate reliability (internal consistency) and validity was found. The confirmatory factor model yielded a single latent factor for the 20 items, with adequate goodness-of-fit indices. The convergent validity data showed that the highest correlations were with the Dedication subscale of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Personal Growth subscale of Psychological Well-being, with values of 0.35 and 0.34, respectively (p < 0.01 in both cases).
CONCLUSION: The scale shows good psychometric properties, with high internal consistency and evidence of internal and convergent validity.
IMPACT: Proposing a valuable instrument which identifies good nursing in different areas of palliative care while also establishing quality indicators to guide nursing practice entails the recognition of autonomy in care. The resulting work tool can be used to systematize the assessment of nursing care in a process of open and continuous improvement.
BACKGROUND: The anaesthetic propofol is often mentioned as a drug that can be used in palliative sedation. The existing literature of how to use propofol in palliative sedation is scarce, with lack of information about how propofol could be initiated for palliative sedation, doses and treatment outcomes.
AIM: To describe the patient population, previous and concomitant medication and clinical outcome when propofol was used for palliative sedation.
METHODS: A retrospective study with quantitative and qualitative data. All patients who during a four-and-a-half-year period received propofol for palliative sedation at the Department of palliative medicine, Akershus University Hospital, Norway were included.
RESULTS: Fourteen patients were included. In six patients the main indication for palliative sedation was pain, in seven dyspnoea and in one delirium. In eight of these cases propofol was chosen because of the pharmacokinetic properties (rapid effect), and in the remaining cases because midazolam in spite of dose titration failed to provide sufficient symptom relief. In all patients sedation and adequate symptom control was achieved during manual dose titration. During the maintenance phase three of fourteen patients had spontaneous awakenings. At death propofol doses ranged from 60 to 340 mg/hour.
CONCLUSIONS: Severe suffering at the end of life can be successfully treated with propofol for palliative sedation. This can be performed in palliative medicine wards, but skilled observation and dose titration throughout the period of palliative sedation is necessary. Successful initial sedation does not guarantee uninterrupted sedation until death.
BACKGROUND: This quantitative study aimed to analyse the relationship between knowledge and nurses' self-confidence (or self-efficacy) in applying palliative care (PC) in the intensive care unit (ICU). This study was a correlational study with a cross-sectional approach. The sampling technique used was total sampling, and the sample included all nurses who were actively working at the general hospital in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, during the study. There were 127 people in total. Data were collected using questionnaires. The Pearson correlation test was used for bivariate analysis. The results of univariate analysis showed that the majority of respondents had high self-confidence but had less knowledge related to PC in the ICU. Based on the results of the bivariate analysis, there was a significant relationship between knowledge and self-confidence variables. The results showed that a high number of respondents had less knowledge in implementing PC in the ICU. Therefore, familiarisation sessions and training related to this are needed, focusing on nurses' beliefs in their abilities.
BACKGROUND: Patients with advanced haematological malignancies suffer from a very high symptom burden and psychological, spiritual, social and physical symptoms comparable with patients with metastatic non-haematological malignancy. Referral to palliative care services for these patients remains limited or often confined to the last days of life. We developed a palliative care intervention (PCI) integrated with standard haematological care. The aim of the study was focussed on exploring the feasibility of the intervention by patients, professionals and caregivers and on assessing its preliminary efficacy.
METHODS/DESIGN: This is a mixed-methods phase 2 trial. The Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT) will follow each patient on a monthly basis in the outpatient clinic or will provide consultations during any hospital admission. SPCT and haematologists will discuss active patient issues to assure a team approach to the patient's care. This quantitative study is a monocentric parallel-group superiority trial with balanced randomisation comparing the experimental PCI plus haematological standard care versus haematological standard care alone. The primary endpoint will calculate on adherence to the planned PCI, measured as the percentage of patients randomised to the experimental arm who attend all the planned palliative care visits in the 24 weeks after randomisation. The qualitative study follows the methodological indications of concurrent nested design and was aimed at exploring the acceptability of the PCI from the point of view of patients, caregivers and physicians.
DISCUSSION: In this trial, we will test the feasibility of an integrated palliative care approach starting when the haematologist decides to propose the last active treatment to the patient, according to his/her clinical judgement. We decided to test this criterion because it is able to intercept a wide range of patients'needs. The feasibility of this approach requires that we enrol at least 60 patients and that more than 50% of them be followed by the palliative care team for at least 24 weeks. The trial will include integrated qualitative data analysis; to give essential information on feasibility and acceptability.
Interprofessional education allows students to collaborate with students and professionals of multiple disciplines. An Interdisciplinary Palliative Care (IPC) Seminar, held in the Midwest, involves students from disciplines of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and chaplaincy. The curriculum of the seminar incorporates asynchronous and synchronous didactic presentations, experiential learning through group exercises and discussion, along with home visits by students in interdisciplinary dyads. The purpose of this study was to determine whether students’ participation in a 3-week IPC seminar would positively influence their socialization and value of interprofessional collaboration with the ultimate goal of developing skilled professionals who engage in interprofessional practice in hospice and palliative care settings. This descriptive study invited participants to take a pre- and postseminar online survey using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale-21 (ISVS-21) to assess shifts in students’ perceptions of interprofessional socialization and the value of collaborative health-care practice. In their pre-and postseminar scores, 71 participants reported they more strongly agreed with all items on the ISVS-21 after completing the seminar. The results from this study suggest the IPC Seminar is an effective educational model for advancing the value of interprofessional socialization and collaborative practice in hospice and palliative health-care.
Background: Generalist nurses frequently care for people who have advanced chronic diseases in decline, or who are dying. Few studies have measured graduating nurses' knowledge about end-of-life (EoL) care.
Aims: To measure and compare knowledge about EoL care using the palliative care quiz for nurses among two cohorts of graduating nurses in a baccalaureate nursing programme.
Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design using a convenience sample of two cohorts of students.
Findings: Total mean scores were low at 44.5% and 46.5% for the cohorts, respectively; this was not statistically significant. Misconceptions related to presentation and symptom management of the dying patient and integration of palliative with acute care. Palliative care knowledge was higher among the cohort who completed the dedicated EoL care course.
Conclusion: Significant misconceptions about EoL care exist among these graduating nurses; this information provides direction for curriculum revision.
AIM: To identify the associated factors of hope during treatment in cancer patients.
BACKGROUND: Hope is very important to cancer patients at all stages of the disease process. Hope is seen as an important coping mechanism. Most research about hope in cancer patients considered the end of life or in palliative care. Several and different factors are associated with hope. It is not yet sufficiently clear which factors are associated with hope during the treatment.
DESIGN: A systematic literature review of quantitative empirical studies on hope in cancer patients during treatment.
DATA SOURCES: Search in MEDLINE (PubMed interface), CINAHL (EBSCO interface), Psychinfo and Cochrane (January 2009-December 2018).
REVIEW METHODS: Empirical quantitative studies were included regardless of the disease stage, written in English or Dutch, measuring hope from the perspective of cancer patients. Two authors independently screened all the studies and assessed their quality.
RESULTS: Thirty-three studies were included. Positive relationship has been established between hope and quality of life, social support, spiritual and existential well-being. Hope appears to be negatively associated with symptom burden, psychological distress and depression. There appears to be no relationship between hope and demographic and clinical variables. The relationship between anxiety and hope remains unclear.
CONCLUSIONS: Hope primarily seems to be a process that takes place in a person's inner being rather than being determined from outside.
IMPACT: Health professionals may want to focus on the meaning of hope for cancer patients in relation to the associated factors. A better understanding of the meaning of hope during treatment can be of great value in supporting cancer patients with regard to treatment decisions, psychosocial support, the experienced quality of life and symptom burden and any wishes they may have with regard to advanced care planning.
OBJECTIVE: This study captured the end-of-life care experiences across various settings from bereaved caregivers of individuals who died in residential hospice.
METHODS: A retrospective, observational design using the CaregiverVoice survey with bereaved caregivers of patients in 22 hospices in Ontario, Canada. The survey assessed various dimensions of the patient's care experiences across multiple care settings in the last 3 months of life.
RESULTS: A total of 1153 caregivers responded to the survey (44% response rate). In addition to hospice care, caregivers reported that 74% of patients received home care, 61% had a hospitalization, 42% received care at a cancer center, and 10% lived in a nursing home. Most caregivers (84%-89%) rated the addressing of each support domain (relief of physical pain, relief of other symptoms, spiritual support, and emotional support) by hospice as either "excellent" or "very good." These proportions were less favorable for home care (40%-47%), cancer center (46%-54%), and hospital (37%-48%). Significantly, better experiences were reported for the last week of life where hospice was considered the main setting of care, opposed to other settings ( P < .0001 across domains). Overall, across settings pain management tended to be the highest-rated domain and spiritual support the lowest.
CONCLUSION: This is one of few quantitative examinations of the care experience of patients who accessed multiple care settings in the last months of life and died in a specialized setting such as residential hospice. These findings emphasize the importance of replicating the hospice approach in institutional and home settings, including greater attention to emotional and spiritual dimensions of care.
BACKGROUND: As palliative care increasingly takes place in patients' homes, perceptions of security among patients in the late palliative phase and their relatives are important.
AIM: To describe and compare patient-relative dyads regarding their perceptions of security in palliative homecare, including the perceived security of the actual care given to the patients, as well as the subjective importance of that care.
METHODS: A cross sectional questionnaire study including 32 patient-relative dyads was conducted in an urban municipality in Norway. Patients were in a late palliative phase and received palliative homecare. Each patient proposed one relative. Data were collected using a modified version of the Quality from the Patients' Perspective instrument (QPP), which focuses on security and comprises three dimensions: medical-technical competence, identity-orientation approach and physical-technical conditions. Context-specific scales containing four aspects (competence, continuity, coordination/cooperation, availability) were added. The instrument contains two response scales; perceived reality (PR) and subjective importance (SI). Data were analysed by descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test, T-test and Wilcoxon's signed rank test.
RESULTS: Patients had high mean scores on the PR-scale for the sense of security in palliative homecare in the dimensions of medical-technical competence and physical-technical conditions. There were three low mean scores on the PR-scale: the aspect of continuity from patients and the aspects of continuity and coordination/cooperation from relatives. The patients scored the SI scale statistically significantly higher than the PR scale in the identity-orientation approach dimension and in the aspect of continuity, while relatives did so in all dimensions and aspects. The intra-dyadic patient-relative comparisons show statistically significant lower scores from relatives on the PR-scale in the dimensions of medical-technical competence, physical-technical conditions, identity-orientation approach and the aspect coordination/cooperation.
CONCLUSIONS: There are several statistically significant differences between patients and relatives' perceptions of security in the palliative homecare received (PR) compared with the subjective importance of the care (SI) and statistically significant differences in the patient-relative dyads in PR. A relatively mutual sense of security in palliative homecare is important for patient-relative dyads, as relatives often provide care and act as patients' spokespersons. What they assess as important can guide the development of palliative homecare.
Objectif: Étudier la relation entre la détresse et la confusion mentale chez les patients en situation palliative afin d’apporter une prise en charge adaptée à cette situation complexe et fréquente en fin de vie.
Méthodes: C’est une étude quantitative observationnelle, prospective et multicentrique réalisée auprès de patient en situation palliative. Les équipes de chaque structure incluaient les patients et réalisaient des évaluations à l’aide d’un formulaire visant à renseigner l’intensité de la détresse ressenti par le patient, à l’aide de la Distress Thermometer auto-évaluée puis hétéro-évaluée, et la présence ou non d’une confusion à l’aide de la Nu-DESC. En outre, il était rapporté la prise ou non des prescriptions médicamenteuses anticipées ainsi que toutes les caractéristiques épidémiologiques du patient.
Résultats: Nous avons pu inclure 51 patients et réaliser 467 entretiens. Aucune relation n’a été mise en évidence entre la détresse et la confusion sur tous les entretiens confondus. Par contre, une relation faible à modérée a été mise en évidence au premier entretien. La confusion a tendance à augmenter à l’approche du décès alors qu’aucune relation n’a pu être mise en évidence entre la détresse et la date du décès.
Conclusion: Ces résultats questionnent sur le ressenti des patients confus puisqu’il n’a pas été mis en évidence que la confusion engendre une détresse plus importante chez ces patients sur tous les entretiens.
Cet atlas présente les ressources pays par pays en matière de soins palliatifs : services pour adultes ou enfants, lits dédiés, composition et nombre d'équipes, tendance et objectifs des politiques nationales de santé des pays.
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Healthcare professionals working in palliative care are exposed to emotionally intense conditions. Scientific literature suggests Expressive Writing as a valid tool for the adjustment to traumatic events. For health workers, EW represents an important support to prevent Compassion Fatigue and Burnout. As literature showed that Compassion Satisfaction, Group Cohesion and the Organizational Commitment are protective factors able to counter the onset of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout, the aim of this study is evaluating the effect of Expressive Writing protocol in Palliative Care workers on Compassion Satisfaction, Group Cohesion and Organizational Commitment.
METHODS: A quasi-experimental quantitative 2x2 prospective study was conducted with two groups and two measurements. 66 professionals were included. Outcome variables were measured using: Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, Compassion Satisfaction Rating Scale, ICONAS Questionnaire, Questionnaire for the evaluation of EW sessions.
RESULTS: The parametric analysis through Student t test did not show statistical significance within the experimental group and between the experimental and control groups. One significant difference in the pre-intervention assessment of Normative Commitment t (gl 64) = -2.008 for p< 0.05, higher in the control group, disappeared in the post intervention evaluation. An improvement trend in all variables within and between groups was present, with a positive assessment of utility from the participants.
CONCLUSIONS: This intervention did not significantly impact outcome variables. It is however conceivable that by modifying the intervention methodology, it could prove effective. The positive evaluation by the operators, suggests to keep trying modelling a protocol tailored on Palliative Care professionals.